The devices and methods disclosed herein generally relate to color printing and, more particularly, to printing devices and methods that accommodate the use of multiple different output color modes and associated output color profiles.
Conventional printing devices print using subtractive color mixing printing techniques that illuminate colored filters with white light from behind. Typically, these printing devices are operated in a four-color mode. That is, they print an image on a print surface using a four-color output color profile and, particularly, four different colorants (e.g., toner or ink) including the subtractive primary colors, which are cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y), and black (K). This four-color output color profile is referred to as the CMYK profile and can be used to produce the greatest number of different colors on a printed surface using the least amount of colorant.
Recently printing devices have been developed that can be selectively operated in one of multiple different color modes. That is, these printing devices can accommodate multiple different output color profiles, each comprising different numbers of colorants. For example, these printing devices can be selectively operated in a four-color mode (e.g., with the CMYK profile), as described above, or in a 5-color or higher mode (e.g., with an extended gamut profile). An extended gamut profile is a color profile that includes the four colorants mentioned above (i.e., CMYK), plus 1, 2, 3, etc. additional colorant(s). Thus, the extended gamut profile is referred to as a CMYKX profile. An “additional colorant” in an extended gamut profile could be a colored colorant in the traditional sense (e.g., a red colorant, an orange colorant, a green colorant, a violet colorant, etc.), which allows for an even greater number of different colors to be printed on a printed surface. An “additional colorant” in an extended gamut profile could also be a colorant that exhibits some other unique property (e.g., a magnetic property, a thermochromatic property, a luminescent property, etc.). When a printing device accommodates multiple different output color modes and, thereby different output color profiles, a user selects one of the different output color profiles (i.e., selects the CMYK profile or a CMYKX profile) for printing a page on a print surface. In making this selection, the user balances: (a) the desire to achieve a visually satisfying printed image (i.e., an enhanced printed image), which is only possible with the CMYKX profile; and (b) a desire to avoid the higher cost associated with using the CMYKX profile instead of the CMYK profile (e.g., due to additional colorant usage). Additionally, in the event that a pre-press printing domain imposition process results in an arrangement wherein multiple logical pages are set to be printed on the same print surface (e.g., as seen in booklet printing, N-up printing, signature printing, etc. in order to obtain faster printing, simply binding and reduce waste), a user selects one of the different output color profiles for printing all of the logical pages on that print surface. This is because current architectures do not allow for printing multiple logical pages on the same print surface using different color modes (i.e., using different number of colorants in the output color profiles). Thus, in making this selection, the user must further balance: (a) the desire to achieve a visually satisfying printed image, which is only possible with the CMYKX profile; and (b) a desire to avoid the higher cost associated with unnecessarily using that same CMYKX profile for another printed image, which doesn't require the extended gamut, on the same print surface.